After watching his team start the season with convincing wins over the Browns and Colts, thanks to 10 turnovers from the defense, Jets coach Todd Bowles said Ryan Fitzpatrick will remain the team’s starting quarterback even after Geno Smith is ready to return.
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“Ryan will get all the first-team reps,” Bowles told reporters Tuesday. “Ryan is our QB right now. We’re going good. We have good chemistry right now. Geno understands that.”
Smith began training camp as the team’s No. 1 quarterback but suffered a broken jaw after getting punched by former teammate IK Enemkpali. Through two games this season, Fitzpatrick has thrown for 423 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions for a quarterback rating of 94.3.
Fitzpatrick is in his first season with the Jets, his sixth NFL team in 11 years. He started 12 games for the Texans last season, throwing for 2,483 yards with 17 touchdowns and eight picks while the Texans improved from 2-14 in 2013 to 9-7. Fitzpatrick, a seventh-round pick out of Harvard by the Rams in the 2005 NFL Draft, had three straight 3,000-yard seasons with the Bills from 2010-12.
In two seasons as the Jets’ starter, Smith has thrown for 5,571 yards with 25 touchdowns and 34 interceptions after being taken 39th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft.
